BIT Plane

"BIT Plane" (1997-1998) by the Bureau of Inverse Technology (BIT) is a miniature aerial observation and recording unit.

BIT Plane flight - Lockheed

BIT Plane is a highly-compact spy plane, wingspan 20 inches: radio-controlled, video-instrumented and deployed over areas of scenic interest. Due to its refined dimensions, BIT Plane is able to enter territory inaccessible to other aircraft.

BitPlane (patent pending) is a pet aerial observation unit - a
highly compact spy plane - developed by the Bureau of Inverse
Technology (BIT) from the generous residues of cold war precision. (The
Bureau is developing a range of smart video products, BitPlane being the latest addition to this line).

The
device consists of a radio-controlled model aircraft (wingspan
approximately 20 inches), instrumented with a miniature nose-mounted
ccd-board camera and transmitter. The plane can be operated at
altitudes of up to 600 feet. The FM transmitter sends a continuous
stream of planes-eye-view video to the ground receiver, providing the
pilot with the navigational view for the plane. The video signal is
simultaneously recorded on tape, for archival and research purposes.

The Bureau is currently compiling video data retrieved in a series of
sorties over the Silicon Valley / California (Oct '97 - Oct '98). BitPlane's
mission takes it deep into the heart of the Valley, to view the source
and progress of the Information Age. The in-flight video retrieved
presents the familiar hosts and icons of the Information Economy from a
novel aerial vantage point, as the unit flies over unusual formations
of brilliant engineers, garage door openers, next generation chips,
dense cellular networks, circular duck ponds, suburban tract housing
enclaves, military think tanks, BMW convertibles, artificial irrigated
lawns, cheap foreign labor and the pleasant climate of Northern
California.